World Rugby has appointed Megapro as its exclusive sponsorship sales agency for Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 in South Africa.
The tournament will take place in Cape Town next year, in what will be the first time that a Rugby World Cup Sevens event takes place on the African continent.
The three-day tournament is expected to build on the successful 2018 edition in San Francisco, which attracted record attendance for a rugby event in the USA, with a total attendance of more than 100,000 fans.
In addition, that tournament attracted cumulative domestic and global broadcast audiences of more than 24 million and 31 million viewers respectively, which included a record-breaking live broadcast audience of 1.7 million on its final day. The tournament also leveraged 22.5 million social media video views on World Rugby channels over the course of the event.
Megapro specialises in the commercialisation of rights and sponsorship sales across a variety sports and entertainment properties within South Africa.
“We are delighted with this exclusive appointment to work with esteemed global entity RWCL on an event of this magnitude,” said Lara Verbaan, Sponsorship and Strategy Manager of Megapro. “We have been pivotal in the commercial success of various aspects of the game locally and look forward to drawing on this rich experience and our vast global network, which includes the quintessential on and off field experience of ex-Springboks Sevens player Steven Hunt (Megapro Sales Manager), to ensure the commercial success of this event.”
“Rugby World Cup Sevens is the pinnacle rugby sevens event for teams and fans alike, and with the latest Nielsen research indicating 82% of the South African population interested in rugby, we envisage delivering record broadcast viewership and digital engagement, well beyond RWC Sevens 2018 in San Francisco,” said World Rugby Chief Commercial Officer Tom Hill.
